Bok Tower Opens 1.5 Mile Nature Trail

Trail winds through part of 260 acres preserved by the Green Horizon Land Trust.

Greg Kramer, center, director of horticulture at Bok Tower Gardens, leads a narrated walk on the new 1.5 mile preserve trail following a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month.

PAUL CRATE | LEDGER MEDIA GROUP

By GREG PARLIERLEDGER MEDIA GROUP CORRESPONDENT

Published: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 11:52 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 11:52 p.m.

Nestled amongst citrus and pine, a new preserve trail at Bok Tower Gardens provides a portal to a Central Florida rich in serene nature.

The 1.5-mile trail winds through part of 260 acres of open lands surrounding Bok Tower Gardens preserved by the Green Horizon Land Trust.

"The open agriculture and pine lands around Bok Tower Gardens are important to preserving the historic design and beauty of the garden laid out by Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr.," said Bok Tower Gardens President David Price.

The Florida Community Trust awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Green Horizon Land Trust, an environmental preservation organization focused on the Lake Wales Ridge and surrounding areas, to preserve the land as "vistas critically important to the historic design of the Gardens."

"If you look out from the gardens, some of the beauty of the landscape is the open groves and fields," Price said. "The other thing is we have a lot of wildlife, and the open land is a wildlife corridor. If you have homes and fences and dogs and cats it would impact the wildlife."

During the development boom of the early 2000s, there was a movement to alter the covenant signed by owners of the land surrounding Bok Tower Gardens to potentially open up some of the land for development. That's when the Gardens began looking to ownership as a way to preserve the scenic vistas its visitors had enjoyed for decades, Price said.

The Green Horizon Land Trust stepped in to purchase the land and partnered with Bok Tower Gardens to maintain the land.

In the agreement, Bok Tower will restore 156 of the 260 acres of former agricultural land to longleaf pine forest. Some of the preserve will remain in citrus production, and the rest is in its native natural state.

There are two picnic shelters on the preserve, one at the trailhead near the entrance to Bok Tower Gardens, the other at the adjacent Lake Wales High School overlooking the Preserve and Bok Tower, where classes can be conducted in an outdoor setting. There are 10 signs along the trail, which ends at Bok Tower Gardens' visitors center, telling the natural history of the preserve and the Lake Wales Ridge.

The Florida Wildflower Foundation provided a $3,000 grant to the project for the planting of thousands of native wildflowers along the trail, and Mosaic Corp. provided the rock trail.

Additionally, 71 volunteers from the Ridge Rangers, a group focused on helping restore and support the Lake Wales Ridge ecosystem, along with Boy Scouts and other community members spent six days and 370 hours planting more than 13,000 wildflowers and native grasses on a one-acre area surrounding the Preserve's picnic shelter and trailhead.

"Without the support of these dedicated volunteers, it would have been difficult to complete such a large task," said Bok Tower Gardens land steward Katrina Noland. "Not only were these volunteers able to make a lasting impact on the environment, they also received a firsthand education and experienced the nature of this threatened ecosystem."

CSX, the Vaughn-Jordan Foundation, the Florida Wildflower Advisory Council, Polk County Parks and Natural Resources, the city of Lake Wales and the Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce also contributed to the project.

Hikers may encounter numerous species of wildlife, including foxes, bobcats, gopher tortoises, birds and raptors. Some of the wildlife that lived in the Gardens have moved back into the preserve, their native habitat, since Bok began restoring the pine forest.

But possibly the most exciting part of the project for Bok Tower Gardens lies in the preservation of a serene atmosphere surrounding their Gardens for generations to come. Now that a conservation organization owns the land, the state will never allow it to be deve-loped.

"Probably the biggest impact is the feeling and the mood, the ambiance of the place," Price said.

The public can access the trail as part of the admission price to Bok Tower Gardens, and part of the ticket price will go to maintenance and restoration of the preserve.

<p>Nestled amongst citrus and pine, a new preserve trail at Bok Tower Gardens provides a portal to a Central Florida rich in serene nature.</p><p>The 1.5-mile trail winds through part of 260 acres of open lands surrounding Bok Tower Gardens preserved by the Green Horizon Land Trust.</p><p>"The open agriculture and pine lands around Bok Tower Gardens are important to preserving the historic design and beauty of the garden laid out by Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr.," said Bok Tower Gardens President David Price.</p><p>The Florida Community Trust awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Green Horizon Land Trust, an environmental preservation organization focused on the Lake Wales Ridge and surrounding areas, to preserve the land as "vistas critically important to the historic design of the Gardens."</p><p>"If you look out from the gardens, some of the beauty of the landscape is the open groves and fields," Price said. "The other thing is we have a lot of wildlife, and the open land is a wildlife corridor. If you have homes and fences and dogs and cats it would impact the wildlife."</p><p>During the development boom of the early 2000s, there was a movement to alter the covenant signed by owners of the land surrounding Bok Tower Gardens to potentially open up some of the land for development. That's when the Gardens began looking to ownership as a way to preserve the scenic vistas its visitors had enjoyed for decades, Price said.</p><p>The Green Horizon Land Trust stepped in to purchase the land and partnered with Bok Tower Gardens to maintain the land.</p><p>In the agreement, Bok Tower will restore 156 of the 260 acres of former agricultural land to longleaf pine forest. Some of the preserve will remain in citrus production, and the rest is in its native natural state.</p><p>There are two picnic shelters on the preserve, one at the trailhead near the entrance to Bok Tower Gardens, the other at the adjacent Lake Wales High School overlooking the Preserve and Bok Tower, where classes can be conducted in an outdoor setting. There are 10 signs along the trail, which ends at Bok Tower Gardens' visitors center, telling the natural history of the preserve and the Lake Wales Ridge.</p><p>The Florida Wildflower Foundation provided a $3,000 grant to the project for the planting of thousands of native wildflowers along the trail, and Mosaic Corp. provided the rock trail.</p><p>Additionally, 71 volunteers from the Ridge Rangers, a group focused on helping restore and support the Lake Wales Ridge ecosystem, along with Boy Scouts and other community members spent six days and 370 hours planting more than 13,000 wildflowers and native grasses on a one-acre area surrounding the Preserve's picnic shelter and trailhead.</p><p>"Without the support of these dedicated volunteers, it would have been difficult to complete such a large task," said Bok Tower Gardens land steward Katrina Noland. "Not only were these volunteers able to make a lasting impact on the environment, they also received a firsthand education and experienced the nature of this threatened ecosystem."</p><p>CSX, the Vaughn-Jordan Foundation, the Florida Wildflower Advisory Council, Polk County Parks and Natural Resources, the city of Lake Wales and the Lake Wales Chamber of Commerce also contributed to the project.</p><p>Hikers may encounter numerous species of wildlife, including foxes, bobcats, gopher tortoises, birds and raptors. Some of the wildlife that lived in the Gardens have moved back into the preserve, their native habitat, since Bok began restoring the pine forest.</p><p>But possibly the most exciting part of the project for Bok Tower Gardens lies in the preservation of a serene atmosphere surrounding their Gardens for generations to come. Now that a conservation organization owns the land, the state will never allow it to be deve-loped.</p><p>"Probably the biggest impact is the feeling and the mood, the ambiance of the place," Price said.</p><p>The public can access the trail as part of the admission price to Bok Tower Gardens, and part of the ticket price will go to maintenance and restoration of the preserve.</p>